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Roger Marsh: That's right, Dr. Dobson. And friend, thanks to generous listeners like you, Family Talk can reach more and more listeners with practical help and encouragement. To support Family Talk with your best gift, go online to DrJamesDobson.org, or call (877) 732-6825.

Speaker 3: Today on Family Talk ...

Dr. Dobson: Welcome everyone to this Friday edition of James Dobson Family Institute. I'm your host, Dr. Dobson. And whether or not you're listening online or on the radio, I'm so glad you joined us today. Yesterday you heard the first part of a passionate speech, that's really the best word for it, given by Barry Meguiar, my good friend from college, on the topic of witnessing unashamedly. Now, Barry is a very unique man of God. I don't think I've ever met a man who more lives out his walk with Jesus Christ than he does. Today on James Dobson Family Institute, you're gonna hear the remainder of Barry Meguiar's message at Praise Cathedral in South Carolina from this past May. He shares numerous stories about how he intentionally tells people about the good news of Jesus and how we can do that too. Barry also reminds us that we're all Christ ambassadors on this Earth, and that it's never too late to start actively telling our friends and our family and even strangers about Jesus. And Barry does it as well as anybody I've ever heard. So turn your radio up and listen to Barry Meguiar's powerful message on today's edition of Dr. James Dobson's Family Institute.

Barry Meguiar: 90% of your faith sharing opportunities are not long discussions, they're spontaneous, on the mark. And in seconds, you can move ... it's fun ... are you starting to get the feel what I'm talking about? And when you do it every time, it just puts a bounce in your step, "Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. It's just great." You are the light of the world, okay? You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hid. When you're a Christian, people know you're a Christian. You can't hide that fact. And people are watching you, people you don't even know are watching you. In your weakest moment, they're watching you. When you are short with somebody or you slight somebody or you're not smiling at the right time, all this, it's all the above. They're gonna say, "I don't want that. They're a Christian. If that's what it is, I don't want it."

A lamp is placed to stand where it gives light to everyone. We should be the light of the world giving light to everyone. In the same way, let your deeds shine out for all to see that everyone will praise your heavenly father. Notice it didn't say so that everybody will praise you. Right? Praise your heavenly father. The way I say it is I want people to see God in me and want what I have, all the time. It's easy and it's fun. And Jim said it's a privilege. It's a privilege that you don't just have to be Jim Dobson, Dr. James Dobson, to do it. You can be anybody, every day. We all have influence. We all have influence.

It says, "No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket," and yet that's what we've done. We've put our light under a basket and tried to hide the fact that we're a Christian. Different strokes for different folks, I don't wanna offend anybody. You are the salt of the earth. But what good is it if the salt's lost its flavor, it's lost its saltiness. That's what happened, is it not? Am I making this up? Are you with me? Do we not see this? The salt has lost its saltiness. We need to get our salt back. We need to get our salt back. Let me give you a concept that will stay with you. There is one characteristic that salt and light both share. Listen to me on this, guys. And you're in the toughest mission field of all. You're called to be salt and light, okay? The one characteristic that salt and light both share, they change their environment. Your environment's coming at you, I'm so thankful I'm not your age today. I had enough struggle. All the stuff coming at you, it's like that is the way it is and you can't get out of it and you're not cool. You know what? Satan is… the attack on you, is so incredible.

Here's the question for us: are you changing your environment? Folks, are you changing your environment? Or is your environment changing you? Hmm. Here's an easier question to answer: is the church changing our environment or is the environment changing our church? No, no. I think we know the answer to that one. We've got programs, Revival Outside the Walls, we've got programs for the church, but right now I'm talking about you specifically. The central message of the Bible, God loves us, it's so simple and it's not offensive. Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake. I gotta tell you, in Syria you might be persecuted. Here, at least until our religious liberties are completely taken away from us, we can say this and people receive it when it's the message of love and not condemnation.

We're really good at telling homosexuals they're going to Hell. We're not good at telling homosexuals, "Do you know God loves you?" And it's fun. And you see it in their face, it takes the argument out. It takes the sting out. Hey, you've got your issues, I've got my issues. That's why God sent his son to die for us so we can stand clean before Him. It's so cool. Don't be offensive and don't be hurt, it's just what it is, it's freedom. We have freedom. It's a message of freedom, of love. The world is starving for love. And we have it. And we are all walking by people all the time who are going to Hell and have no thought of just saying, "Hi, God bless you."

This is light. This is not me. Please, I beg you, don't grab on to this, boy, that Barry, it's fun to listen to him. This is where God wants us to live, it just happens I got it 40 years ago, and I've been living it for 40 years. It is so much fun. The letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelations ... So seven churches, Karen and I have been to all seven churches. We've researched it a lot. The letter to the church at Ephesus I think speaks to you, speaks to us as Christians. He says, "I know thy labor and thy works and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear that which are evil and has not faded. Nevertheless," he's speaking to us, the faithful, the people who are giving sacrificially, low one pastor, giving sacrificially to the offerings, doing all the work of the church, he says, "Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you've left your first love."

There's a lot of you in this room, I can tell you without hesitation, a lot in this room that God is no longer your first love. You didn't even notice it. What are you excited about? What are you most excited about in your life? It should be God. Was there something right now that you have fun telling to people about? It might have been a movie you saw last week, might have been a restaurant you ate at. It might have been the shot at the end of the NBA championship game the other night. It might have been something your kids did. We're excited about all these things. When's the last time you were that excited about God? We have lots of other things that get us excited. God saved us. He's given us this message and we have the opportunity to share his love. Is that cool or what? We've left our first love.

And then he goes on to say, "Remember from whence thou has fallen." Remember where you were when you got first saved? Boy, God, I'll do anything for you. I'm sold out, God. Anything, God I just wanna honor you. I just wanna honor you. Why is it that demonstrative Christians, Christians that are exuberant, are usually new Christians? And then the atrophy sets in and you go down and finally you're just going through the motions. That is not scriptural. We should not be natural people. We should not have that natural process. We are supernatural. It's a supernatural thing. I'm gonna tell you how to have that every day, that bounce in your step every day.

So anyway, he says, "Repent and do the first work, the first thing you did when you were saved." I just talked to a guy last night, he got rebirthed in his walk. First thing he wanted to do, he wanted to tell people. That's the first work. If you haven't heard that before, that is the truth. There's nothing else. It's not, I get saved and I go sing in the choir or work in the nursery department. When I get saved, I gotta go tell my story. The church kind of dumbs us down. You got saved, let's see, you sing? We can use you in music or we've got all these chores. We don't talk about ... Okay, you gotta say, now let us help you know how to share your faith.

We've taken our eye off the ball. It is first love, first work, and repent, there's no question. Repent if you're not doing those three things you need to repent. Christianity 101, I'm gonna run through some quick scriptures. John 14:15, "If you love me ..." first off, how do we prove to God we love him? Don't we wanna do that? God, I love you. We're all saying that, do we really mean it? Here's what you do, if you really love God, here's what you do. John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit and leads to all truth." He's the one that'll give you the nudge. Follow the nudge, live in the fog.

We all know what the nudge is. Oh, I should talk to that person. I should encourage ... I should stop and pray for that person. I should minister to that person. You know what the nudge is. Everyone here knows what the nudge is. But they wouldn't care. They don't wanna ... I'd just offend them. I've got too much time, or I don't have enough time. We have all these excuses. No. Follow the nudge. Every time you follow the nudge, you're always glad you followed the nudge. You need to follow the nudge, really important.

John 14:21, again, how do you show God that you love him, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them ..." Now remember, Jesus said just keep two, love me and love your neighbor, first love, first work, it all ties in. Scriptures will repeat, they're all tied together. "He it is that loveth me. The one that keeps my commandments, loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of the Father and by me. And I will manifest myself to him." Do you wanna know absolutely beyond all doubt that God loves you and Jesus loves you? I mean, come on, how do you do that? You keep his commandments and you love God and you love your neighbor. It's not hard. We're just not doing it. Why is this not preached to the church? I didn't get this message. I got this from real life experience. I just was not satisfied with my life, I wanted more. I just wanted more.

2 Corinthians 5:18, understand there's nothing secular. For those of us who are Christians, there is nothing in your life that's secular. Nothing. Nothing, to the last second, there's nothing in your life that's secular. It's all spiritual and count it all joy, especially the bad times, especially the bad times. I'll repeat, if you're in a bad time right now, don't waste it. Do not waste it. All things are of God who has reconciled him to himself by Jesus Christ, and he's given you, he's given us the ministry of reconciliation. That's what our ministry is. We live full time to reconcile people with Jesus Christ. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors. An ambassador for the United States is not just the ambassador in the diplomatic meetings. It's every moment he's walking down the street, when he's having dinner. He represents the president of the United States. We represent God Almighty. We're ambassadors for Christ. We need to live like that, it changes our lives.

1 Peter 3:15, always, always, always, always be ready to give a clear presentation of the hope that's within you. And if you don't do it well, it doesn't matter. Just do it anyway and you'll get better and better, like shooting baskets, whatever you do starts getting better. The main thing is to be real. And the main thing is to make sure that your steps go before you. And then I don't care how you look. Karen and I have a friend, Bob, he's in his 90s now, he's a hayseed, and he's barely standing, I don't even know how he's still alive. But every time I'm with him, I just say, "I wanna be like him," his closeness to God, I just hunger to be ... Oh, to have the relationship that Bob has with the Lord. Always be ready to give a clear presentation.

Everything you do and say leads people to or away from God. That's heavy. Everything you do and say moves people closer or further away from God. We lead people away from Jesus wholesale and don't even realize it. But God realizes it. What are we doing with our lives? It is the great commission, folks. He didn't send us into the world, go into the world and pray. He didn't say go into the world and read your Bible. Obviously those things are great. But neither one of those things are redemptive to the world. All the stuff we're doing ... but if you go in the world and share the love of God, you share the gospel, you will be in prayer, no doubt about it. If somebody asks you the tough question you don't know how to answer, that's where the fun begins. That's a good question. I don't have the answer. Let me get it for you. Can we get together on Thursday and I'll have an answer for you. I'll just read God's word, I'll get the answer.

That's when the fun begins. Guess what you're doing between now and Thursday. You now have purpose in your Bible study. Nobody has to tell you to be on your knees and in the word. You're digging like crazy. I gotta have an answer for Bob on Thursday. You're just going for it. It makes everything else ... It's the lead dog. It's the lead chain. When you're sharing your faith, everything else gets an operation and you're sharing ... do you follow what I'm saying? It brings your life, everything in your life, everything ... and then when your individual ministries, wherever you're working in these areas of pornography or whatever, it all explodes. But when you're not doing that and you're just having your dinner, your joy, it almost ... I had one pastor tell me the other day, "I can speak to thousands, but I'm more fulfilled by sharing my faith every day, the stories I have are just incredible."

If we don't do that, there are serious consequences. I'll give you this right quick. The right request is: you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The wrong response is ... and I already gave it to you, it's sin to know the truth and not do it. So on through in the direction of I have given you the truth. This is truth, this is not me. It's not my lifestyle. It is my lifestyle but it's not about my lifestyle. It's truth. I'm giving you the ultimate truth here. This is core, bottom core of the scripture. Here's a self-test. If God answered every prayer you prayed in the last two weeks, if God answered every prayer you prayed in the last two weeks, how many more people would be on their way to Heaven today? It's a little self-test for you, find out where your priorities are.

Matthew 10, "Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on Earth, I will also acknowledge before my father in Heaven." Yes. When I confess Him, He'll confess me, that's the good news. But then he goes on to say, "But everyone who denies me here on Earth," and by your silence you're denying him, "I will also deny before my father." Serious. You don't want Jesus saying I'm gonna deny you before my father, you just don't want that, it's obvious. He talks about joy, that last parable in the garden, he talks about, "But when you bear fruit, my joy will remain with you and your joy will remain full." But it also talks about if you don't bear fruit and what happens.

That's a whole other subject, but I want you to know it's there. "Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover a multitude of sins." I like that. I like that. I've got a couple sins I need to make sure I've covered, so I like that. He says I'll cover a multitude of sins when you're doing this for me. That's pretty good and safe. "Here is my father glorified in you, if you bear much fruit ..." The fruit is people brought to eternal life. I already read the scripture where it says that. "Here is my father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples. These things I have spoken to you that my joy might remain with you and your joy will remain full."

Isaiah 43:10, "Thus sayeth the Lord, I have appointed you as my witness." This is Isaiah now, the Old Testament, Isaiah 43:10, "Thus sayeth the Lord, I have appointed you as my witness so that you will believe." You think he'd say, "I have appointed you as my witness so they will believe." But no, it's you believe, because when you're in it, God just does so much stuff and your faith just soars, you see how God orchestrates things in your life. Trials will come. They will just come. It's a matter of how you handle your trials. He's not concerned what you go through; he's concerned how you handle what you go through.

I'll give you this last verse, "All things, all things work together for good." We know that part of it. We don't quote the rest. And I gotta tell you, all things don't always work together for good. They don't. Oh, but they do if you follow the contract, it is a contract. We all can quote the first part of it. I ask Christians, "Can you quote Romans 8:28?" "Oh, yeah, you know about the ... Oh, yeah, all things work together for good." About 70% I would say can quote that. Yeah, and what is the contract? For those who love God, they get that. That goes down to about 60, 55%, I would guess that understand that. What's the last part? Now we're going down to about 10%. There's two parts to it, it's a contract. If God is gonna promise you to make everything in your life work together for good if you do two things, isn't it important to know what those two things are? This is the kicker, it's crazy. Think about it.

After John 3:16, I can't think of another scripture that gives you this promise. I promise you, God says to each one of you, he says to you guys for the rest of your life, I promise you. Wow. Can you guys grab onto this? I promise you, from this day forward, I will make everything in your life work for good. I'll get you the right husband, the right wife, the right job, the right everything. Are you kidding? I can't even believe where my life is today. It's above anything you could ask for or even imagine. That's what God has planned for you. He has plans for your life, and you could have all those plans unfold if you do two things. God's promise is I'll make everything in your life, every one of you guys, everything in your life work for good if you do two things: if you love me ... there we go back now, it's first love, first work. It's love me and love your neighbor as yourself. It's the same thing only this time it comes with this great promise: I promise you I'll make everything in your life work together for good if you love me and live for my purpose, not our purpose, live for his purpose. That's what life's all about. His purpose is to seek and save the lost. Is that cool?

And if we do that, we immediately step into the favor of God, and that is the fog. If you follow the nudge, you live in the fog. You can't get away from that one. Is that cool? Is that powerful? Wow. You could start right now. You could start living ... you don't have to do it for a period of time, you can just resolve to do it right now in this service as you go out. Just commit yourself right now, "I'm gonna move everybody from this day forward." Can you imagine what 1500 of you could do in this community if every one of you started focusing on moving everybody, every day? You could change this whole area. Can you imagine if we had a million of the 35 million Christians just loving on people? How about 10 million? That'd be 100 million people we could influence. Unbelievable. We can revive America again. But you and I can't change the world. But you could change your world. You guys could change your world.

And if we change our world, we'll change the world, and we'll have revival. 100 years ... Last thought, 100 years from now, for those of us who are Christians and are in Heaven, there's only one thing that's gonna matter, and it's not gonna be how many millions of bottles of car wax I sold, it's not gonna matter. It's not even gonna matter if I'm a Republican or a Democrat or conservative or liberal, or even if I'm an American. It's not gonna matter. 100 years from now, the only thing that'll matter is ... think about it, the only thing that'll matter 100 years from now is how many people are in Heaven, or on their way to Heaven, or not going to Heaven because of your influence. That's a serious thought. That's a sobering thought. The opportunity is huge. Opportunity's there.

If you wanna have more help in this, we have a website, no money. This website is not about money, it's about helping you ignite your life. If you wanna go to igniteAmerica.com, you go there, we'll give you the baby steps, we'll give you a lot of the scriptures I've shared with you today. It's a wonderful resource. Would you bow your head with me for just a moment.

Father God, I thank you for this church and this pastor and your anointing, and with Jim, I felt your presence. When walking into the sanctuary, I felt your presence. This place is alive. Church is full of people who love you and are living great lives. But statistics would tell us that most are not sharing their faith. Most have yet to enter into that joy, have yet to get off the bench and actually into the game. And this community is in free fall. America's in free fall. And so, right now, Father God, we ask you to sovereignly move on every person in this room, particularly the young people, every one of us, and help us to resolve to begin living our days from this very moment forward for you, for your purpose, that we might stand in your presence knowing we have your full love and adoration, all the promises because of our faithfulness to you to leave everybody, move everybody, every day, closer to Jesus. God, provoke us every moment to do that, to honor you God and to revive America again. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name.

Dr. Dobson: Well, I hope that you've been blessed by Barry Meguiar over these past two days here on James Dobson Family Institute. And I wanna echo Barry Meguiar's words of encouragement. It's our duty and our obligation to tell others about Jesus. He told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But it really shouldn't be so painful or scary to do that, not if you understand where Barry Meguiar's coming from. We should want to share this good news with others and our life should point people to who Christ really is. If you'd like to learn more about Barry's ministry, Ignite America, go to our website, DrJamesDobson.org, then click on our broadcast tab at the top.

Also, we'd love to hear your thoughts about today's program or any of our past broadcasts here on James Dobson Family Institute. And we pay a lot of attention to what you say to us because you're the people we most wanna reach. So we urge you to get in touch with us by calling (877) 732-6825. That's (877) 732-6825. And when you contact us, you will have the option to either leave a message on our listener's feedback line, or to be connected to one of our representatives who can help you receive any of our resources and answer any of the questions you may have. We are indeed here to serve you. The number again for James Dobson Family Institute's offices here in Colorado Springs is (877) 732-6825. I really wish you'd come by and see us sometime when you're in the area. This is Dr. James Dobson thanking you all for listening today and yesterday and for your continued support and prayers for this ministry. Be sure to join us Monday for more of James Dobson Family Institute and God's richest blessings to you all.